KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of refiners Hengyuan and Petron Malaysia
climbed to a record high on Monday as buying interest was spurred on by the climb in crude oil prices which hit a two-month high.
At 11.25am, Hengyuan had surged RM1.05 to RM7.95 with 4.83 million shares done while Petron added 37 sen to RM9.22.
The FBM KLCI rose 0.19 of a point ot 0.01% to 1,767.27 after languishing earlier. Turnover was 691.78 million shares valued at RM426.28mil. There were 236 gainers, 410 losers and 361 counters unchanged.
Oil prices hit a two-month high on Monday, lifted by a tightening US crude market and the threat of sanctions against Opec-member Venezuela, Reuters reported.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at US$52.67 per barrel at 0247 GMT on Monday, up 15 cents or 0.3%. Prices hit US$52.76 per barrel earlier in the day, their highest since May 25.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 16 cents, or 0.3%, at US$49.87 per barrel, the highest since June 30.
The price rises put both crude benchmarks on track for sixth consecutive session of gains.
Oil prices have risen around 10% since the last meeting of leading members by Opec and other major producers, including Russia, when the group discussed potential measures to further tighten oil markets.
"A combination of factors seems to be driving the newly found optimism. U.S. inventories are showing massive drawdowns, Saudi Arabia seems intent on playing its role as the world's swing producer (and) impending sanctions on Venezuela by the U.S. will almost certainly be oil price supportive," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore, was quoted saying by Reuters.
The United States is considering imposing sanctions on Venezuela's vital oil sector in response to Sunday's election of a constitutional super-body that Washington has denounced as a "sham" vote.
But traders said the biggest price supporter was currently a tightening US oil market.
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